Living Armor Boyfriend: Morrow 2 (complete)

Female Main Character x Male Monster (nonbinary)

I can remember the first time I ever saw my mom - in a painting. It was during a festival, and a museum had a special exhibition of artwork about the Saint Nicolas family. Aat that point I had some idea that I was a member of the Saint Nicolas line, and I had always been told by strangers I looked a lot like Holly Saint Nicolas, but until I saw the painting I didn’t understand. I was little, sucking on my thumb and chewing on things that looked fun to chew on. I can remember Winifred holding my hand, and when we looked at that huge painting her hand tightened around mine. Editih hadn’t come to live with us yet, but I don’t think she would have gone with us that day.

The more I grew, the more I saw myself in the memory of that painting. The long red hair, curly and flowing, the big brown eyes, the long thick lashes, the full lips. I was my mother when I looked in the mirror, and it gave me a strange, indescribable feeling. Sometimes I was looking at a stranger, and my mind would wander freely with the thought. I had so many ideas of who my mother was or could be, and even when Edith showed up with her vendetta, I still didn’t know what to think about her.

I knew I wanted to meet her ever since I saw that painting hanging in the museum. That’s why I switched the spells. I didn’t want to fight someone I didn’t know, especially someone I really did want to know. Finally, after all these years, I get to meet my mother. She’s much shorter than I expected her to be. I always imagined her much taller.

“Hello, Lydia,” she says uneasily. She hasn’t seen me since I was a toddler. I was barely walking when she knew me last.

I’m scared all of a sudden. All this time wanting to meet her, and now I’m frightened. Too many thoughts swarm and devour my mind, and all that’s left is a sinking feeling. What if I disappoint her? What if she disappoints me? I’m not as great as Edith or Winifred. She’s staring at me, waiting for a response, and I don’t know what to do.

“Lydia, it’s okay.” Edith is right beside me.

“I see,” Holly murmurs. “Can she still not talk?”

Edith takes one hand while Morrow takes the other. “Sometimes too much,” Edith laughs softly. “She thinks differently sometimes. Just give her a second.”

Holly steps closer, and I meet her gaze. She has the eyes I see in the mirror. I swallow hard, trying to get my thoughts to line up so I can speak to her.

“Before Winifred and Edith were born, I always thought I was scatterbrained,” she says gently. “After you were born, I realized that the clockwork of my head isn’t the same as everyone else’s. At the time, I gave up on you because everything inside me was scattered and I couldn’t put it back together. I’m sorry I did.”

“How do you get over it?” I ask quietly. “Having too much in your head?”

Holly sighs. “I usually have sex,” she grumbles. “But I’ve been told that isn’t the best coping mechanism.”

I sniffle. “Do you ever just go somewhere quiet and stare out the window?”

Holly nods. “I do. Especially when it’s snowing.”

My smile brightens. “Me, too!”

Holly smiles at me, and I walk into her open arms. After that, Winifred, Edith, and I decide to stay at her keep for a while. For me, it’s a chance to get to know my mother. It’s almost like getting to show a side of myself I never knew before. We have common interests, but mostly it’s like our heads are built the same. I enjoy getting to know someone who thinks the way I do.

“After you were born, I sort of fell away from the world. I wanted to be alone.” She looks guilty as she says this. “It was overwhelming.”

“What was?” I ask.

“Everything,” she sighs. “Everything just sucked the life from me. I couldn’t deal with it. I couldn’t even bear to breathe. So your father thought it was best to leave, to give you a new home. He thought I was losing my mind, and for a while I was.”

I look down at my cup of hot cocoa, then back to her. “Why didn’t you try to meet me, though?”

“Because I had gotten it into my head that he was right,” she sighs. “I failed with Winifred. I was failing horribly with Edith. And when I couldn’t even stand holding you as a baby...” She goes quiet and her eyes become distant. “I thought you were better off without me fucking things up.”

“I still would have liked to meet you. Everyone fucks something up. It’s not that bad, is it?” I shrug and rub at my knees. “I fuck up a lot, and people tend to forgive me for it.”

“And who wouldn’t? Look how beautiful you are!” Holly chuckles. “But I suppose that’s what always got me into hot water. My looks bought me tons of grace.”

“I wouldn’t say my looks did anything for me, other than making people feel even sorrier for me,” I pout.

“All the more reason to prove the world wrong. That’s what I did, and what I still do. You can accomplish great things, Lydia. The way I look at it, because we don’t think like the rest of the world, we can surprise them. They won’t see you coming.”

“Morrow told me something similar,” I muse.

“About that,” Holly says softly. “You and your sisters have those big, armored bastions with you, but how did you come across them?”

“I don’t want to say anything that would get you mad. After all, we summoned them in hopes of… you know, taking you down a peg.”

“Edith and I have talked about that,” Holly chuckles. “But these suits of armor don’t seem like the kind of thing you’d summon in of anger.”

I shake my head. “I sort of switched spells on Edith,” I confess. “The original spell I chose seemed scary. And since she and Winifred couldn’t read the book like I could, I switched the spell to something less harmful.”

Holly’s smile grows. “See that? You surprised them. Very good.”

I smile shyly. “They’re really nice, by the way. Morrow and his brothers.”

Holly takes a bite of a cookie, then dusts the crumbs from her bosom. “They seem to hold affection for you. At least from what I have witnessed with Winifred and Edith.”

I smile shyly. Having spent so much time with Morrow lately, I have become aware of feelings. He’s quiet, which is something I am drawn to. At the same time, he talks to me and understands me. He helps me sort my thoughts and makes me feel comfortable with myself. And he wants me to be myself around him.

“It’s been giving me ideas about making my husbands wear sexy armor,” Holly sighs dreamily.

“I don’t want to hear that,” I grimace.

Holly chuckles. “You’re very lucky, from the looks of things, you got the biggest one. He’s quite intimidating.”

“That’s just the armor,” I sigh. “Morrow is really quite sweet, at least to me. He can’t talk, so it’s hard for him to get his thoughts across.”

Holly nods. “He’s been roaring at the other knights during training.”

I shrug and reach for another cookie. “It’s better than some of the other noises he makes, trust me.”

Aside from spending time with my mother, I’ve been exploring the keep. There’s lots of room to roam about and get lost. I have found myself in tons of interesting rooms, including a supply room filled with old weapons. I took apart an old cannon and, when I heard people coming, I ran back the way I came.

I also found an observatory with several telescopes pointed at set places into the sky. I’ve been wanting to go back at night, but since the room is always open, it’s often extremely cold there. I’ve been waiting for a day where I can take Morrow with me, since he’s as warm as any fireplace.

“It will be fun, trust me. We can stargaze, drink some hot cocoa, and just enjoy the quiet of it all!” I follow him down the hallway as he leaves the training ground. He’s a bit dirty from going through exercises with the other knights.

Morrow growls low, and the sound rumbles deep inside his chest. “What? Shy or something?” I tease.

He turns and waves his hand over his body.

“I can give you a bath, if that’s what you’re asking.”

He grunts, dropping his sword so he can use both of his hands to sign to me.

“We don’t have to have cocoa. We can drink coffee if you prefer. I just want to spend some alone time with you! I haven’t gotten to, between mom and my other siblings.” I grab Morrow’s hand, which is crusty with dried dirt. “Pretty please? It’s cold up there, and you’re so big and warm.”

Morrow signs with his free hand. I frown at him and his words. “I know you’re not a kettle! Stop that!”

Morrow nods, then pats the top of my head. “Let me get clean,” he signs. “And we can go up to this frosty observatory you’ve found.”

“Yes!” I crow. “It’ll be fun! I promise. I’ll pack a picnic so we don’t have to leave for anything.”

“Just make sure you pack something warm for you. It’s supposed to get extremely cold tonight, with a bad snowstorm.”

I grin up excitedly at Morrow. “I’ll bring blankets, don’t worry!”

That evening, I pack a basket with snacks, hot coffee and blankets. I wait for Morrow at the door, and while I wait, I can’t help thinking a little too much. Morrow seemed apprehensive about coming. I wonder if he has the same feelings I do. What if we feel differently? I certainly have strong feelings for Morrow, but what if he sees me as a friend? I mean, I would be lucky to have Morrow as a friend. But what if he feels uncomfortable around me because he knows I feel more? Oh god, he knows I have feelings and that makes him uncomfortable! That means he’s feeling forced into this! Not only that, but if I ever lose Morrow as my friend, I’d be heartbroken! We’re bonded, right? He knows me well and he’s just being nice to me when he knows this would hurt me. But I don’t want to hurt him!

By the time Morrow arrives, I’m kneeling on the floor and crying, my head so full it feels like it’s going to split in two. Morrow puts his hand on my back and rumbles low in his throat. I sniffle and whimper, rubbing at my eyes. “Sorry. I started thinking and I can’t stop.”

Morrow puts his arm around me, giving me a squeeze while I try to catch my breath. He holds up his hand to me, signing. “What’s wrong?”

I sniffle and hiccup, feeling a tight pain in my chest. “If you don’t want to be here tonight, I won’t force you.”

He growls.

“I’m serious!”

Morrow stands me up and wipes the tears from my face before signing forcefully with both hands. “I want to be here, but over the last few weeks, I have been training really hard. My armor is gross, and I’ve not been able to clean it properly because the water in the knights’ barracks is frozen solid! I stink like knight ass, which isn’t romantic at all. I wanted to be nice and clean for you when we spent an evening together, and those men in those barracks are animals...”

I stop his hands, holding them in mine. “Calm down, Morrow! They aren’t worth it.”

His shoulders slouch and he lowers his head. I smile at him. “I don’t think you stink. If you hated living with gross boys, you could have asked to stay with me in my quarters. They’re huge!”

“I’d love to spend more time with you,” he signs.

I take his hand and lead him into the observatory, which is already frigid. I take out a blanket, which Morrow wraps around me. I offer him the warm bottle of coffee I packed, as well as a bag of cookies. “Me and the little siblings made fudge today too! It’s so full of sprinkles, though,” I laugh.

Morrow looks around the observatory while holding the bottle of coffee. He growls as he turns back to me.

“You know what, I’m not sure exactly what this place is for. But the telescopes are really cool.”

He lifts his helmet and points to his one eye.

“I don’t know. Surely you can see out of it,” I chuckle. I wander over to a telescope and peer out through the snow into the stars. The distant sky seems so close, almost as if it has extended down to the earth.

“Oh, wow. This is amazing!” I breathe in awe. I look out the window, then back through the telescope. Morrow comes up behind me, putting his arms around me so his heat touches against my back. My cheeks grow warm despite the cold. “Here, look for yourself.”

He peers through the telescope, but when he feels me shivering, he takes a step back. He takes off his helmet and hands it to me.

“What are you doing?” I put the helmet on as he seeps from the armor. His form stands outside it, quite tall but rail-thin compared to the armor. His body glitters with dozens of scales, and I can almost make out the shape of his face. He takes the blanket wrapped around me and places himself inside it, standing behind me and holding me with his long arms. I gulp down my heart, and for once, my head is empty.

I look up at Morrow and lose my breath for a second. He dips down, kissing my forehead, then my cheek. “You’re shaking.” he signs.

“I’m excited!” I giggle. “I’m happy, I’m...” I stop to contain myself. I’ve never felt so happy, and it’s scary and wonderful. “I’m fit to fucking burst! I’ve wanted to kiss you so badly!”

He touches my cheek, leaning in to kiss me, and I excitedly stamp my feet. The rumble in his chest sounds like laughter, and when he pulls back, I can almost make out a smile on his face. It’s the most beautiful smile I have ever seen in this world.

“So fucking good!” I tremble, trying to keep myself contained. I pull him down for another kiss, forgetting the cold, forgetting the millions of stars beyond us. I pull back slowly, giggling. “I was afraid you wouldn’t like me. I kept overthinking it and running it through my head until it felt like I was going to split at the seams. It scared me to think I could lose someone I cared about so much.”

“Of course I like you,” he signs. “It’s even more than that. It’s becoming so much more, Lydia.”

I take his hand and kiss his fingertips. “I’ve never told you how much you mean to me. How much your quiet and calm helps me think. How your words mean more to me than anything I would ever hear.” I smile shyly at him as I feel tears come again. “I get to be myself with you, which is so hard with most people.”

The tears almost freeze against my cheeks, until Morrow sweeps them away for me. Morrow hugs me tight, resting his forehead against mine. He growls deep in his throat, whispering it into my ear. He kisses me again, picking me up off the ground as he does. No wonder my mom likes this so much! I could honestly do this all day. I could do much more too, but that’s for another day.

“You’re so warm. I knew this would be perfect.” I look into his eye, and see snow falling from the opening in the ceiling. I look up, watching as it falls all around us. Morrow holds me closer, tugging the blanket so it’s under my chin. I feel the rumbles in his chest, and the warmth makes me feel so safe and loved.